1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flame reaction material carrier which carries a flame reaction material for coloring a gas flame in a gas appliance such as a cigarette lighter, an ignitor, a torch or the like, and a method of manufacturing a flame reaction member comprising a flame reaction material carrier and a flame reaction material carried by the flame reaction member.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been proposed to color a gas flame of a cigarette gas lighter or the like by flame reaction in order to make visible the gas flame or to improve appearance of the flame. As disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7(1995)-72615, a flame reaction material is held in a gas flame by a carrier formed of a coiled heat-resistant wire material and the gas flame is colored by flame reaction. As another flame reaction material carrier, there has been known one formed of a wire material an intermediate portion of which is wound into a loop. The flame reaction material is fixed on the looped portion.
Since the flame reaction material carried by the carrier is volatilized by the flame it is consumed as the lighter or the like is repeatedly used. Accordingly basically the amount of the flame reaction material carried by the carrier should be as large as possible.
However as the amount of flame reaction material provided on the carrier is increased, the size of the carrier must be larger and the overall size of the flame reaction member is increased. As the size of the flame reaction member increases, resistance of the flame reaction member to the gas flow increases and the gas flow is disturbed, which makes unstable the shape of the gas flame. From this viewpoint, it is preferred that the flame reaction member be as small as possible.
Thus the flame reaction member should carry a necessary amount of flame reaction material and should be as small as possible in size. However in conventional flame reaction members where the flame reaction material carrier is formed by coiling or looping a heat-resistant wire material which is circular in cross-section, the diameter or the pitch of the coiled portion or the loop must be increased in order to increase the amount of the flame reaction material carried thereon, which increases the overall size of the flame reaction member and gives rise to the aforesaid problem.
For example, in the case of a cigarette lighter, it is preferred that a flame reaction member comprising a flame reaction material carrier in the form of a coiled heat-resistant wire member and flame reaction material carried on the carrier be transversely suspended in the gas burner of the lighter in view of stability in the color developed by flame reaction and advancing initiation of developing the color. A burner of primary air mixing type employed in a flame reaction lighter generally has a burner tube which is 6 mm in the inner diameter and the rate of gas flow through the burner tube is generally set to about 35 cc/min. In such a case, the outer diameter of the portion of the carrier where it carries the flame reaction material should be not larger than about 1.3 mm. Otherwise the shape of the gas flame becomes unstable.
Further the amount of flame reaction material necessary for one thousand ignitions of a cigarette lighter is about 10 mg and is about 15 mg if a margin is left. When the diameter of the wire material of the carrier and the pitch at which the wire material is coiled are set so that a sufficient strength of the flame reaction member is ensured with such an amount of flame reaction material carried on the carrier, the outer diameter of the flame reaction member is enlarged to adversely affect the gas flame. On the other hand, when the diameter of the coiled portion is reduced in order to avoid such adverse influence on the flame, the amount of flame reaction material which can be carried by the carrier is reduced and the service life of the flame reaction member is shortened, whereby the flame reaction material is exhausted before the service life of the lighter expires and the coloring effect cannot be obtained any more.
Further in order to make the flame reaction member as small as possible without fear that the flame reaction material is exhausted before the service life of the lighter expires, it is necessary to precisely control the amount of flame reaction material provided on the carrier so that an adequate amount of flame reaction material is uniformly provided on the carrier.
Conventionally, a flame reaction material composition in the form of viscous solution is applied to the carrier by coating or dipping and fixed to the carrier by baking. However this method is disadvantageous in that control of the amount of flame reaction material provided on the carrier is difficult and requires skillfulness, and it is difficult to apply a uniform amount of flame reaction material to the carrier.
Further in the step of applying the viscous solution to the carrier, the solution can contaminate the working environment. Further the viscosity of the solution changes with time due to evaporation of the liquid component, whereby the amount of solution applied to the carrier changes, and accordingly, the viscosity of the solution must be carefully controlled in order to uniform the amount of flame reaction material provided on the carrier.